It was predicted from free running and ultradian cycle studies that sleep-onset insomniacs would have endogenous circadian rhythms that were phase delayed compared to good sleepers.

Thirteen sleep-onset insomniacs and nine good sleepers were selected to differ only in their sleep-onset latencies as confirmed by polysomnography.

their rectal temperatures were measured over a 26-hour constant routine and analyzed with best-fit Fourier curves including 24-h fundamental and 12-h harmonic components.

The temperature rhythm markers of the insomniacs' rhythms were approximately 2.5 h later than the respective phases of the good sleepers.

The usual bedtimes of the insomniacs fell within the "wake maintenance zone" of their delayed temperature rhythm. The good sleepers had typical bedtimes several hours after their "wake maintenance zone" and closer to their body temperature minimum.

It was suggested that manipulations to phase advance the insomniacs' rhythms would reduce their sleep-onset latencies.

It was also predicted that early morning insomnia results from phase advanced circadian rhythms and that sleep maintenance insomnia results from an abnormal phase relationship between the 24-hour temperature rhythm and 12-hour sleep-alert rhythm.

â€śFinish each day before you begin the next, and interpose a solid wall of sleep between the two.â€ť

Ralph Waldo Emerson said these words of wisdom way before science proved the many reasons why a sleep is so critical to our health.

During deep sleep phase, the brain's waste removal system is 10 times more active than during wakefulness, literally restoring the mind for the day ahead. While it's taking out the trash, so to speak, the body works to repair brain cells, reinforce new memories, and even learn new motor skills. Logging enough hours between the sheets each night also does wonders for helping our bodies relieve stress, fight inflammation, maintain healthy body fat levels and ultimately live longer.

Despite the irrefutable evidence of why we should all be getting more shut-eye, nearly half of Americans get less than the recommended amount of sleep each night. When life gets busy, sleep tends to fall to the bottom of our priority lists, leaving our minds and bodies stressed, sick and burned-out.

But that's starting to change: more and more successful people are acknowledging that pretty much any goal is easier to accomplish after a good night's rest.

The present study investigated the phase timing of circadian rhythms of early morning awakening insomniacs compared with a group of age matched good sleepers.

A 24-hr bed rest laboratory session was used to evaluate the endogenous core body temperature and urinary melatonin rhythms. This way lifestyle differences are excluded.

Objective and subjective sleepiness were also measured every 30 min across the session with 10 min multiple sleep latency tests and Stanford Sleepiness Scale.

Maximum and minimum phases of each individual's rhythm were identified using two-component cosine curve fitting.

Compared with the good sleepers, the insomniacs had significant phase advances of 2-4 hours for the temperature and melatonin rhythms. However, the advances of the sleepiness rhythms were not significant.

This latter unexpected result was explained on the basis of variability of sleepiness measures. It was suggested that early morning awakening insomnia arises from phase advanced circadian rhythms which evoke early arousal's from sleep.

Bright light has recently been shown to have phase-shifting effects on human circadian rhythms. In this study we applied this effect to 20 patients with delayed sleep phase syndrome (DSPS) who were unable to fall asleep at conventional clock times and had a problem staying alert in the morning. In a controlled treatment study, we found that 2 h of bright light exposure in the morning together with light restriction in the evening successfully phase advanced circadian rhythms of core body temperature and multiple sleep latencies in these patients. This finding corroborates the importance of light for entraining human circadian rhythms.

The effect of evening bright light in delaying the circadian rhythms and lengthening the sleep of early morning awakening insomniacs.

Past studies have predicted that early morning awakening insomnia is associated with early circadian rhythms, meaning that your body temperature drops way before your bedtime.

Because bright light stimulation in the evening is said to delay the phase of circadian rhythms, we tested it on nine early morning awakening insomniacs.

Sleep was evaluated with wrist motion sensors and their temperature and melatonin level graph were measured as well.

In the initial evaluation, the temperature rhythm phase positions of these insomniacs did appear to be earlier than normal. The subjects were then exposed to bright light stimulation (2,500 lux) from 8 pm to midnight on two consecutive evenings.

Following the evening bright light treatment, temperature rhythm phase markers were delayed 2-4 hours and melatonin phase markers were delayed 1-2 hours. Sleep onset times were not changed but the mean final wake-up time was delayed from 5 am hours to 6 am, resulting in a mean increase of total sleep time of about one hour.

This pilot study suggests that evening bright light treatment may be an effective nondrug treatment for early morning awakening insomnia.

Tip #01. To Wake Up Early, Go To Bed Early As simple as it seems, this tip is hard to beat so we've put it as a number one. Having enough sleep is important not only to wake up early, but to feel energized on the next day, to be productive and focused. It easily may be the best technique to solve your waking up problems. Read full story

Tip #02. Go To Bed And Get Up At The Same Time Every Day It's a good habit you must acquire - not just to wake up earlier, but to fall asleep faster. First, you get more effective sleep for the same period of time, if you go to bed and wake up at the same time every day... Read full story

Tip #03. Give A Promise To Wake Up Early Give a promise to someone that you would start waking up early. Works best with your family members, friends, etc. Once given, promise should be kept, or you lose respect with those people... Read full story

Tip #04. It Takes 3 Weeks To Make A Habit Some sources say it takes 21 day to make a habit, some say it's 24 days, some say it's 30. Doesn't really matter. What matters is that you do not need to commit yourself to waking up early on every day till the end of your life. Just commit to wake up early for 3 weeks. That's all... Read full story

Tip #05. Let The Music Wake You Up This is an excellent trick that I use for a long time. Do you have your favorite song? Then all you will need is a music player with a built-in alarm clock. Set the player to play the song you selected and set the time of alarm... Read full story

Tip #06. Take A Nap In The Afternoon If you struggle to wake up early in the morning, chances are your body doesn't get enough sleep. Try to take a nap for 20-30 minutes at day time. It helps reduce stress and you will feel refreshed. Best time to take a nap is midday... Read full story

Tip #07. Sleep With Fresh Air One of the tricks to wake up early is to have more effective sleep for the same amount of time. Freshen the air in your room before you go to sleep (or just sleep with windows open if outside temperature is OK), and you will have more relaxed and more deep sleep. It also help really well to fall asleep faster... Read full story

Tip #08. Ask Someone Who Wakes Up Early To Wake You Up If you are lucky to have friends or relatives who wake up early in the morning - ask them to wake you up. You may ask friend for a wake up call (just have your phone close so you don't wake up all the house or your neighbours). Or you may ask a friend who is jogging in the morning by your house to knock your door. The secret of this trick is actually not in the fact someone wakes you up (alarm clock can do it as well)... Read full story

Tip #09. Create A Reward System For Yourself Excellent wake up technique that works very well not only for waking up but whenever you want to do something you don't like or keep procrastinating on is putting a reward ahead of you... Read full story

Tip #10. Do Not Eat Before Going To Bed This tip is not so much on how to wake yourself up early but on how to fall asleep faster. Don't eat too much right before bedtime. You may have light snack 2 hours before sleep time, but not later. This advice has simple explanation. Your organism stays awake digesting the food, so even if you fall asleep part of your body is not "sleeping" and overall you still have less effective sleep which is not restful... Read full story

Tip #11. Have Important Things Planned For The Morning If you want to wake up earlier then make sure you have something important planned for the morning â€“ something that you really want to do first thing as you get up and which is more important than taking an extra hour of sleep. Read full story

Tip #12. Use Multiple Alarm Clocks Canâ€™t get up after wake up alarm goes off? Keep pressing that snooze button? Then this tip, powered with few tricks, is for you. Read full story

Tip #13. Start Slowly But Start Now If you still canâ€™t decide on changing your lifestyle, if you still think whether you should wake up early in the morning or not â€“ you are probably thinking too high. You donâ€™t have to wake up 2 hours earlier starting from tomorrow. Start waking up 5 minutes earlier on every day, and start it tomorrow... Read full story

Tip #14. Practice Waking Up You can "practice" waking up by doing simple exercises at day time. This very original tip comes from Steve Pavlina. His blog is a treasure trove of useful information in the area of personal development. Read full story

Tip #15. Put Yourself Under Time Pressure There are people who do their best only when they are put into a stress situation. If you are one of them, if you need to feel the surge of adrenaline to get thing moved, then you can try this approach to build early wake up habit. Put yourself into a situation where you have extremely important things to do in the morning. Those should be â€śdo or dieâ€ť things that cannot be postponed any further... Read full story

Tip #16. GTD For Early Risers - Create A Morning Ritual I opened David Allenâ€™s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity for myself back in 2005 (I have been re-reading it every few months since then). Getting Things Done, commonly abbreviated as GTD, is a work-life management system based on simple but very effective principles. Here is how I used GTD to help me in my waking up experiments... Read full story

Tip #17. Avoid Alcohol, Tobacco And Caffeine You should avoid alcohol, nicotine and caffeine as much as possible because these stimulants have alerting effect, they disrupt sleep and prevent your body from effective relaxation. Itâ€™s very individual though so the best way is just to try and avoid these stimulants for some time and see if your sleeping improves. Pay attention on how quickly you fall asleep, whether you wake up during the night and how drowsy you feel when you wake up. Read full story

Tip #18. Wake Up Tricks Of The Trade (Video) Check this funny YouTube video showing â€śwake up tricks of the tradeâ€ť... Read full story

Tip #19. Put Your Alarm Clock Far Enough From Your Bed Your first step away from your bed is the most important step you need to make towards your early rising habit. How to make it? There are many options, but letâ€™s start with this easy one. You can simply put an alarm clock far enough from your bed, and... Read full story

Tip #20. Wake Up From The Inside Alarms are external irritants that make you get up. When wake up alarm goes off, your mind wakes up but your internal organs keep â€śsleepingâ€ť for some more time. How you can wake up â€śfrom the insideâ€ť? There is an old trick and it's quite simple - put a glass of water close to alarm clock and drink the water first thing as you get up... Read full story

Tip #21. Weekend Lie-In Does Not Make Up For Long Hours. Beware The Consequences. New research has shown that weekend lie-in fails to make up for long hours in the week. Chronic sleep deprivation breaks the ability of your body to compensate for lost sleep and may result in weight gain, irritability, hallucinations and depression. Needless to say, waking up early in this case may only add up to the problems... Read full story

Tip #22. Start Your Morning With A Puzzle Another wake up trick is to puzzle yourself in the morning by putting alarm clock into a place where it canâ€™t be easily turned off or by using a gadget that will create a puzzle for you. For example, bring a chair, put an alarm clock high on the cabinet, and then put your chair into another room. You will have to repeat this procedure in the morning to shut off alarm. If you canâ€™t come up with a puzzle, check these gadgets that combine alarm clock and puzzle in one evil device... Read full story

Tip #23. How to Wake Yourself Up Early by Creating Right Associations Another important how to wake up early strategy is based on creating positive associations with waking up early and negative associations with not doing it. Every person on this planet is driven by two things. The need to avoid pain, and the desire to gain pleasure â€“ explains Anthony Robbins in his most popular Personal Power program. If you do something, itâ€™s because you associate a pleasure with it. If you donâ€™t do something, itâ€™s because of pain and fear you link to it. By creating positive, pleasurable associations with waking up early and severe pain associations with not doing it you can help build stronger habit that works, consistently. Here is how you can do it... Read full story

Tip #24. Track Your Early Wake Up Progress This early wake up trick was inspired by Jerry Seinfeld's productivity secret posted by Brad Isaac at LifeHacker.com, link to which Iâ€™ve run into while browsing Jim Gibbonâ€™s blog (Thanks Jim!). Iâ€™ll quote Brad, because I probably wonâ€™t come up with a better explanation anyway. According to Brad, he once approached Jerry Seinfeld asking if he had any tips for a young comic. He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker... Â Read full story

Tip #25. Use Wake Up Call Services Most of us used wake up call services in the hotels before, when reception calls you at the specific time youâ€™ve asked them for. But todayâ€™s technology went far beyond that so itâ€™s time to re-evaluate old wake up call service and see how it can help you wake up. Todayâ€™s wake up call service is digitally equipped, fully automated, highly customizable, reliable, inexpensive and takes minutes to setup ... Read full story

Tip #26. Understand Sleep Mechanics We always have a better chance to succeed in things which we understand and where we know underlying principles and laws, as opposed to things we do not understand. Letâ€™s see how understanding sleep mechanics can help you sleep better and wake up earlier . The principles of how sleep works are quite simple (well, at basic level), yet many people have never heard about them. Here is your 5-minute crash course on sleep mechanics... Read full story

Tip #27. Advertise Your Early Wake Up Habit We talked before about giving a promise to someone that you will wake up early. When given, such promise will hold you accountable, and thatâ€™s exactly what you need to continue building your early rising habit day by day. There is one more way to get the same result though. Wake up early in the morning at least once, and start telling people about it. Matthew Stibbe from BadLanguage blog recommends to boast widely about your new early-birdiness... Read full story

Tip #28. Do Not Go To Bed If You Do Not Feel Sleepy To wake up early in the morning you should get a habit of going to bed and waking up at the same time every day, butâ€¦ There is one exception to this rule. On some days you may not feel sleepy enough at the time when you usually go to bed. This often happens if your day was calm and quiet and you arenâ€™t feeling tired. Or, in the opposite situation, you may be so excited about something that happened to you today you simply canâ€™t sleep... Read full story

Tip #29. Wake Up And Smile! â€śWake up and Smile? And what then?â€ť â€“ youâ€™ll ask. Thatâ€™s it! Just smile, and see what happens. Kudos for this tip goes to Aaron Potts and his Today is that Day blog. In his recent post on 8 Tips on How to Get Out of Bed even When You Donâ€™t Want To he mentions this incredibly simple yet amazingly powerful tip. Yes, all you need is a big smile. Here is how it works and why... Read full story

Tip #30. Outrun Your Thoughts One of the primary reasons why most people fail to wake up early in the morning is that once they wake up and turn off alarm clock they talk themselves into going back to bed again. Itâ€™s amazing how many â€śgoodâ€ť reasons for sleeping another hour we may find once we wake up. The key here is to stop rationalizing and let your body outrun your thoughts... Read full story

Tip #31. Invest in Your Early Wake Up Habit One day Iâ€™ve decided that I should start running in the mornings to get back into shape. Two weeks later, I was still thinking that it would be good to finally start doing it. Probably from next week... Or better from the first day of next month... It continued this way for almost 2 months. Do you know how I finally managed to stop procrastinating it? I bought myself pair of new running shoes and some sports wear and after that I simply couldnâ€™t hold it any longer. Investing in my new habit was the thing that actually pushed me out of endless procrastination. You can use the same trick to help you start or resume your habit of waking up early... Read full story

Tip #32. Start Your Day Well Iâ€™ve been reading Robin S. Sharmaâ€™s book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari â€“ a wonderful story full with insights and ancient wisdom on how to open your life to success and happiness. One of my favorite authors writing on productivity and personal development Brian Tracy said about this book: â€śA fun, fascinating, fanciful adventure into the realms of personal development, personal effectiveness, and individual happiness. It contains treasures of wisdom that can enrich and enhance the life of every single person.â€ť
One of the strategies known to the sages that Robin Sharma shares is the Ritual of Early Awakening... Read full story

Tip #33. How to Sleep Less and Stay Healthy My todayâ€™s tip is up as a guest post at Pick the Brain blog. Itâ€™s about sleeping less time by improving the quality of your sleep and changing your sleeping habits . Head there to read full story, as well as many other great articles on self-improvement, productivity and motivation. Read full story

Tip #34. Why Alarm Clocks Can Be Bad and How To Use Them in the Right Way We continue our quest to find the best ways on how to wake up early in the morning and do it consistently. If you search the web for â€śhow to wake up earlyâ€ť or â€śalarm clocksâ€ť keywords combination you will definitely find Vincent Cheungâ€™s article Alarm clocks are bad. How to wake up and feel better. This article has got almost 3,000 diggs and a number of links for a reason. It includes the trick on how to wake up early that Vincent has successfully used for years and now shares with the readers of his blog. To better understand how this trick works and why it works I recommend you first to check one of my previous posts on how sleep works... Read full story

Tip #35. Wake Up With the Sun Do not worry, this tip is not about waking up at 4 a.m., so keep reading...
When it comes to sleep, everyone prefers to sleep in a dark room. Our bodyâ€™s clock is trained to sleep when itâ€™s dark and we always fall asleep faster and relax better in the darkness. So if darkness helps you sleep better, what do you need to wake up? Right, you need light! As soon as you get up from the bed, expose yourself to a bright light (ideally - to sun light) and you wonâ€™t get back to bed. Light in the morning is good for two reasons... Read full story

Tip #36. 9 Reasons to Wake Up Early As it is 9/9 today, I thought it would be good to revamp my earlier article about 9 Reasons to Wake Up Early. Having good reasons to wake up and things to do is a half of success on the way to becoming an early riser. I hope that among the listed reasons youâ€™ll find those that can light a burning desire within you. Here is the link to the article: 9 Reasons to Wake Up Early. Read full story

Tip #37. Avoid Sleeping Pills Unfortunately, many people when looking for the ways to improve the quality of their sleep and solve their sleeping problems turn to sleeping pills and other medications. Why itâ€™s a bad idea? Because they often try to treat the symptoms, not the causes. There are other, more healthier ways to solve these issues that you could try first. If you suffer from insomnia or other sleeping problems, sleeping pills should be your LAST retreat, ONLY if prescribed by doctor and only for SHORT periods of time. Your sleeping issues may be caused by a number of reasons. You should focus on finding out what those reasons are and addressing them - by changing your habits, changing your thinking and sometime changing your whole lifestyle... Read full story

Tip #38. Get a Mentor This is another "universal" tip that can help you in many situations when you need to learn a new skill or get a new habit, and it may come to use if you want to learn how to wake yourself up in the morning. Think of someone among your friends, relatives or just people you know who wakes up early. Talk to them, ask them how they acquired this habit, what challenges they faced and how they overcame them, what tools and techniques they use now or used in the past to develop early rising habit. You can even ask to borrow their alarm clock đź™‚
The mentor can help you not just giving advices or sharing his life experience... Read full story

Tip #39. Strike with Overwhelming Force Here comes the king of all tips. If you still fail to wake up early in the morning but haven't lost the hope, try this one...
When everything else fails, it's time to get to serious military tactics. One known military tactic is called overwhelming force , or rapid dominance. It's simple, yet it's more powerful than any other tip. If you still wonder how can it be, here is the answer. Overwhelming force means using... Read full story

Tip #40. Waking Up Early, Hardcore Style Finally, I'm back from vacation. Not only I'm well rested now but I'm full with fresh wake up ideas. The idea I have to share today has emerged soon after vacation was over, and it was time to get back on my early wake up schedule, which I temporarily gave up on. I had 3 hours difference between my vacation wake up time and my "normal" early wake up time... Read full story

Tip #41. Get a Pet! (Video)

How to wake yourself up in the morning? Get a pet to do it! Okay, getting a pet BECAUSE you want to wake up early is a wrong thing. Do not do it. Never ever get a pet unless you love pets and unless you know you can take care of them. Pets are like kids â€“ if you get one, you are held fully responsible for its health and life... Read full story

Tip #42. Knowledge Is Power! There is another great self-improvement tip which some people often neglect and which you can use to advance in any area and not just to learn how to wake yourself up early in the morning. Everyone heard the phrase Knowledge is power but not all people actually get the meaning. And the tip is simple ... Read full story

Tip #43. Set Your Alarm for Bedtime This smart simple tip was found in the list of 52 Proven Stress Reducers. What this tip means is that first of all you need at least two alarm clocks (or get a dual alarm clock). You will be using one alarm clock in a usual way â€“ for waking yourself up in the morning. But you will set another alarm clock for the time when you have to go to bed. This alarm clock will act as a reminder to ... Read full story

Tip #44. Start on Day One! How often do you hear people saying things like "I'll start eating only healthy food from next Monday" , "I'll start exercising on September 1st" etc. Did you note that many people want to change their life on some special day like first day of the week or month? There is some magic in that Day One and for some reason we think that if we start something on that specific day we have somehow more chances to succeed... Read full story

Tip #45. Sometimes it doesn't work Haven't seen any posts here for a while? It's because waking up early in the morning sometimes, well, doesn't work . I had to work late on pretty much every day over last couple of months and this completely screwed up my wake up schedule. And since I was mostly writing my posts early in the morning, this schedule change has put my blogging on hold for a while.
Work schedule is one common reason why you may never become an early riser, and there are others. Read full story

Tip #46. How to Wake Up Early - We are back! I know many of you made New Year resolution to become an early riser, so I'm back to help you. It's been some looong time since I updated my â€śhow to wake up earlyâ€ť blog. To those 3 (three) my readers who really missed me, I'll give a short update. First, I'm back with a solid pack of new â€śwake up ideasâ€ť for early birds, which I plan to publish over next 10-15 posts â€“ thanks to all the readers of my site who contributed them through submission form. We now have even more material for those who want to become an early riser ... Read full story

Tip #47. No Snooze Ever! This advice on how to get up early comes from Ralph Jean-Paul as found on his Potential2Success blog. â€śOne of the rules I put into place for my experiment was the rule that I could not use the snooze button, ever! When you hit the snooze on your alarm you are allowing your mind to wake up gradually. This may slow down your productivity and energyâ€¦â€ť â€“ writes Ralph... Read full story

Tip #48. Back to School: 10 steps to help you wake up early for school It's that time of the year again - back to school! With the new school year just around the corner we decided it might be a good idea to put together special collection of best working yet simple tricks on how to wake up early for school. Whether you are a student or a happy parent, we hope our advice will work for you. We also welcome you to share your own tricks on how you wake up (or help your kids wake up) early for school! So here is it - 10 steps to help you wake up early for school. Enjoy! Read full story

Tip #49. Travel Early in the Morning Every other month I get to travel on business. I have a choice to take 7am flight or 9am flight or even 12pm flight. Yet I always choose 7am, and some of you may have already guessed why... Read full story

by maven - sleep better - April 18, 2014 — Comments Off on How to Sleep Better --- Sleep Tips from Joseph Pilates

It is better to be tired from physical exertion than to be fatigued by the "poisons" generated by nervousness while lying awake.
Joseph Pilates

How to sleep better is a hot topic for many of us these days. When insomnia sets in, or we need a deeper sleep than we're getting, it can be frustrating, especially for those seeking natural sleep aids rather pills. In this article we review sleep tips from Joseph Pilates, the founder of the Pilates Method of Exercise, whose approach to fitness was holistic.

In his book Return to Life Through Contrology Joseph Pilates provides definite advice on how to sleep better. There is much health advice beyond exercise in that power-packed little book, but for now, let me give you the sleep tips and exercises Joseph Pilates recommends.

How to Sleep - the environment: Pilates says the room should be cool, quiet, well ventilated, and dark. No new news there for those who have been seeking better sleep. He also says the mattress should be firm, bulky pillows should be avoided, and that one should use the lightest covering it takes to be warm. But, says Joseph Pilates, the most important element of better and deeper sleep is mental calm.

A troubled nervous system, Pilates says, can be alleviated with exercise. Regular exercise is frequently recommended by experts as a natural way of overcoming sleep problems, but what if you still can't sleep? Pilates has this advice: Get up and exercise.

Now this is where it gets interesting: Joseph Pilates specifically suggests spinal rolling exercises for better and deeper sleep. The rolling and unrolling exercises, he says, massage the spine, relax the nerves, help cleanse the body, and restore natural flexibility of the spine.

Exercises for Better Sleep

Here are some easy Pilates rolling and unrolling exercises might try before bed or if you have trouble sleeping during the night:

Wall Roll Down - one of the easiest and most practical to do in the bedroom.

No article about Pilates and sleep would be complete without mentioning that along with the many amazing pieces of fitness equipment Joseph Pilates invented, he also invented a bed. He claimed it was the most ergonomic and healthful for sleeping. The bed was basically a wide wedge. Maybe it was too unusual, maybe it didn't work. In any case, it wasn't a big hit though some people still experiment with the plans.

No need to travel to get jet lag, but there are ways to keeping a solid sleep schedule.

If you've ever stayed up during hours when your body craves sleep, you've played with your body's natural "circadian rhythms" (circadian from the Latin "circa" = about, "dia" = a day). Your rhythms are determined by your brain's hypothalamus and help keep an internal clock by using the sun, dark and other cues (such as eating and sleeping at the same time). Aside from determining your sleep cycles, the circadian rhythm helps regulate hormones and tells you when to use the restroom or grab some food.

When you don't commit to a regular, full sleep period, you fall prey to problems. One of the most common issues is shift work sleep disorder, which comes from working during a time when we're "set" to sleep. Symptoms of shift work disorder include excessive sleepiness, insomnia, headaches, lack of energy, increased accidents and mood problems. Another common problem that comes from confusing your circadian rhythms is jet lag.

For example, if you take the red-eye from NYC to Paris and arrives in Paris at 7 a.m. (light, awake) your body clock is confused since it expects that it is 1 a.m. (dark, asleep). You then expose yourself to sunlight immediately upon landing, thereby exacerbating the problem since the brain thinks it should be dark.

Symptoms of jet lag sleep (fatigue, insomnia, grogginess, irritability, mild depression, intestinal upset) can take upwards of two weeks to resolve until the circadian clock adjusts to the new time zone. The basic rule of thumb is that it takes approximately one day for the body to adjust to each time zone crossed. Not everyone who works shifts or travels across time zones has problems adjusting, but many do.

Although the above examples are extreme versions of confusing your body clock by being awake regularly during times when you need to sleep (or trying to sleep when you biologically want to be awake), a new term has been coined in the sleep medicine literature by a group of researchers in Europeâ€”social jet lag. Til Rotenberg and his colleagues suggest that our modern society creates a mismatch during the demands of a) what needs to be done and when it needs to be done versus b) our programmed circadian rhythms. What happens is the following: You keep a regular sleep-wake pattern on work-nights (e.g. bed at 11 p.m., wake at 7 a.m.), but on nights when you don't need to work, you usually don't set the alarm clock and then sleep later and often go to bed later to socialize. You end up getting more sleep on the weekends and adjust to a later bedtime and a later wake time.

Switching sleep schedules feels the same way to our bodies as does switching time zonesâ€”the only difference is that you don't need to fly anywhere to get the same detrimental effects. Many people prefer to keep a later bed and wake time (e.g. 12-1 a.m. to bed, 8-9 a.m. wake), but get less sleep during the week, because they wake much earlier than they would otherwise prefer to get ready for work.

In a 2012 issue of Current Biology, Rottenberg and colleagues estimate that nearly two-thirds of the population has social jet lag! The Rottenberg group linked it to higher rates of obesityâ€”less sleep and an out-of-sync circadian rhythms can slow one's metabolism and lead to weight gain. You're eating at times when our bodies aren't physiologically programmed to digest food. In addition, it has also been suggested that social jet lag may lead to similar problems seen in those who have shift work sleep disorder, including diabetes and increased cancer risk. More research is needed in this field to see if those theories are true.

What is the best thing you can do to help combat the effects of social jet lag? Keeping the same bedtime and wake time each and every day is ideal, but not always practical. Plus, if you have to get up at 6 a.m. daily to get ready for work and are always waking to the alarm clock, it might actually mean that your circadian rhythm naturally wants a somewhat later wake time. Bright light in the morning can be helpful in allowing you to wake up easier and actually fall asleep a bit earlier at night. However, if you're someone who struggles with staying up later, bright light in the evening might be best.

If you continue to have trouble with fatigue, irritability, insomnia or any other sleep-related issue, consider talking with your primary care doctor or scheduling a consultation with a sleep specialist. Here's to no jet lag, even without the jet!

Beta is generally the mental state most people are in during the day, and usually this state in itself is uneventful. However, beta brain wave activity is significant to proper mental functioning, and insufficient beta activity can cause mental or emotional disorders such as depression, ADD and insomnia.

Broadly speaking, beta brain waves are associated with alert attentiveness and concentration- intense focus and problem solving are linked to beta activity. Beta waves can also be related to strong, excited emotions.

Medications that are designed to induce concentration and alertness, such as Ritalin or Adderall, actually produce a beta brain wave state in most subjects.

To be included in that review, articles had to be original, full-length journal articles in peer-reviewed journals, and the studies had to be of an experimental design, with outcomes measured using reliable and appropriate test procedures, and with statistical outcomes revealed.

That highly selective criteria means that these studies represent only a portion of all of the work conducted in this field, but are decidedly some of the most significant. Keep reading to learn more about the incredible results of this research.

Sleepiness and sleep propensity are strongly influenced by our circadian clock as indicated by many circadian rhythms, most commonly by that of core body temperature. Sleep is most conducive in the temperature minimum phase, but is inhibited in a "wake maintenance zone" before the minimum phase, and is disrupted in a zone following that phase.

Different types of insomnia symptoms have been associated with abnormalities of the body temperature rhythm. Sleep onset insomnia is associated with a delayed temperature rhythm presumably, at least partly, because sleep is attempted during a delayed evening wake maintenance zone.

Morning bright light has been used to phase advance circadian rhythms and successfully treat sleep onset insomnia. Conversely, early morning awakening insomnia has been associated with a phase advanced temperature rhythm and has been successfully treated with the phase delaying effects of evening bright light. Sleep maintenance insomnia has been associated not with a circadian rhythm timing abnormality, but with nocturnally elevated core body temperature. Combination of sleep onset and maintenance insomnia has been associated with a 24-hr elevation of core body temperature supporting the chronic hyper-arousal model of insomnia.

The possibility that these last two types of insomnia may be related to impaired thermo regulation, particularly a reduced ability to dissipate body heat from distal skin areas, has not been consistently supported in laboratory studies. Further studies of thermo regulation are needed in the typical home environment in which the insomnia is most evident.

Itâ€™s important to understand how your brain contributes to the state of your mind. While most of us focus on looking at our emotions in an attempt to become happier, more spiritual beings, our brains waves and our subconscious mind also play a key part in our quest for fulfillment.

In this article, weâ€™ll be looking at our five brain wave frequencies and how they affect our state of mind, and will be following up on Thursday with a more in-depth look at the impact they have on us physically and mentally, in addition to some exercises we can do to â€śswitch onâ€ť certain frequencies.
Are We The Controllers Of Our Reality?

We easily forget that we are the controllers of our reality â€“ and that â€śour realityâ€ť is not made up of outside influences, but that it actually consists of our thoughts, beliefs and mindset.

Therefore, by learning about the deeper states of consciousness, you can open your subconscious mind and create your reality at will, and with precision. To do this, the first step is understanding your different brain frequencies. Did you know that we all have five (Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta and Gamma), and each frequency is measured in cycles per second (Hz) and has its own set of characteristics representing a specific level of brain activity and a unique state of consciousness? Smart, eh?
1) Beta (14-40Hz) â€“ The Waking Consciousness And Reasoning Wave

Beta brain waves are associated with normal waking consciousness and a heightened state of alertness, logic and critical reasoning.

While Beta brain waves are important for effective functioning throughout the day, they also can translate into stress, anxiety and restlessness.

The voice of Beta can be described as being that nagging little inner critic that gets louder the higher you go into range. Therefore, with a majority of adults operate at Beta; itâ€™s little surprise that stress is todayâ€™s most common health problem.
2) Alpha (7.5-14Hz) â€“ The Deep Relaxation Wave

Alpha brain waves are present in deep relaxation and usually when the eyes are closed, when youâ€™re slipping into a lovely daydream or during light meditation. It is an optimal time to program the mind for success and it also heightens your imagination, visualization, memory, learning and concentration.

It is the gateway to your subconscious mind and lies at the base of your conscious awareness. The voice of Alpha is your intuition, which becomes clearer and more profound the closer you get to 7.5Hz.

The renowned Silva Method, by Jose Silva is premised on the power of Alpha. However the Silva Method allows you to achieve this deep relaxation through meditation during waking consciousness.

Theta brain waves are present during deep meditation and light sleep, including the all-important REM dream state. It is the realm of your subconsciousness and only experienced momentarily as you drift off to sleep from Alpha and wake from deep sleep (from Delta).

It is said that a sense of deep spiritual connection and unity with the universe can be experienced at Theta. Your mindâ€™s most deep-seated programs are at Theta and it is where you experience vivid visualizations, great inspiration, profound creativity and exceptional insight. Unlike your other brain waves, the elusive voice of Theta is a silent voice.

It is at the Alpha-Theta border, from 7Hz to 8Hz, where the optimal range for visualization, mind programming and using the creative power of your mind begins. Itâ€™s the mental state which you consciously create your reality. At this frequency, you are conscious of your surroundings however your body is in deep relaxation.

>Find out more about the Alpha State of Mind on the Silva Method blog
4) Delta (0.5-4Hz) â€“ The Deep Sleep Wave

The Delta frequency is the slowest of the frequencies and is experienced in deep, dreamless sleep and in very deep, transcendental meditation where awareness is fully detached.

Delta is the realm of your unconscious mind, and the gateway to the universal mind and the collective unconscious, where information received is otherwise unavailable at the conscious level.

Among many things, deep sleep is important for the healing process â€“ as itâ€™s linked with deep healing and regeneration. Hence, not having enough deep sleep is detrimental to your health in more ways than one.
5) Gamma (above 40Hz) â€“ The Insight Wave

This range is the most recently discovered and is the fastest frequency at above 40Hz. While little is known about this state of mind, initial research shows Gamma waves are associated with bursts of insight and high-level information processing.

by maven - insomnia - March 26, 2014 — Comments Off on Early morning awakening insomnia

People who go to bed at regular hour but wake up too early for their taste, are called early morning awakening insomnia.

The theory, if I am not mistaken, is that the early morning awakening insomnia people's body temperature graph and consequently their melatoning levels graph is flat, i.e. the difference between high peaks and low peaks is too low, therefore they either don't sleep deep or don't sleep long enough or both.

In this experiment they are trying to increase the difference between high and low by applying bright light therapy in the evening, just before going to sleep. Hm...

Summary: If you are someone who can't fall asleep before 2-3-4 am, seemingly no matter what you do, you have delayed sleep-phase disorder, or DSPD. In my opinion this is a a condition that you have brought onto yourself by altering your sleep-clock to accommodate late sleeping. It normally starts in the winter and is worse in the wintertime.

I have a few students who have this issue and I'll do some experimentation with them, and will report back here...

Delayed sleep-phase disorder (DSPD), also known as delayed sleep-phase syndrome (DSPS) or delayed sleep-phase type (DSPT), is a circadian rhythm sleep disorder affecting the timing of sleep, peak period of alertness, the core body temperature rhythm, hormonal and other daily rhythms, compared to the general population and relative to societal requirements. People with DSPD generally fall asleep some hours after midnight and have difficulty waking up in the morning.

Many people complain about a difficulty of falling asleep, or alternatively, going back to sleep after they wake up during the night.

What most of these people, the complainers, share is this: they, the moment going to sleep isn't happening quickly enough for their expectations, they start forcing sleep, and at the same time they become concerned, agitated, and begin to think about the effects of not getting adequate sleep on their day tomorrow.

What is in common in all the sufferers are two things:.

1. A misconception of how falling asleep works.
2. A lack of discipline, said in another way a mind that runs off with them.

by maven - sleep better - January 15, 2014 — Comments Off on Foods That Help You Sleep Better

Mother Nature also has...Foods That Keep You Up at Night and Foods That Help You Sleep Better

Turns out your mother was right when she told you to drink a glass of warm milk before bedtime. Milk is loaded with the amino acid Tryptophan, which can make you sleepy. But did you know that you can boost milkâ€™s sleep-inducing effects by enjoying some carbohydrates along with it? It's true!

Studies show that when people who have trouble falling asleep add carbohydrates to their bedtime snack, they fall asleep 50% faster! So to ensure a restful nightâ€™s sleep, try this delicious Tryptophan and carbohydrate combination.

by maven - sleep better - January 12, 2014 — Comments Off on This site is about sleeping, or better said, sleeping well, and sleep remedy

This site is about sleeping, or better say, sleeping well, and sleep remedy.

I was born prematurely, into a family that didn't want me. I was a sickly baby. I vomited every night, and probably cried a lot.

I then began wetting my bed, and truthfully I still wetted my bed occasionally until a few years ago.

I was afraid to sleep, I was afraid to sleep deeply. For years I even forced myself to live on three hours of sleep.

My health suffered... until I discovered that I am an empath, and that I can connect to Source.

I started to create energies, first finding something useful and asked Source to duplicate it. The first energy I "created" thus was the Energizer: a strong energy that energizes as soothes water so it becomes silky, sweet, and nurturing.

Then I duplicated energies of certain flowers that Dr. Edward Bach discovered about a hundred years ago in England. I call them Bach Energies. I also added two to his already famous 38... And infused them in water, in sound, and downloaded them directly to people.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Days of Power 12/14 4 pm NY time

What should you expect during and after the power download?

The energy is spiritual. It takes spiritual energy to heal, spiritual energy to be an optimist, spiritual energy to make things happen, to tell the truth, to be true to yourself. But it works on a co-creative way: it doesn't do anything on its own.

You just want to receive and do nothing? Don't come... You'd bring evil to the call.

I recommend that you bring no agenda to the call, no requests, no dreams, desires... Because all of those will block the actual energy, even though you may get some placebo effect.

Empty your cup... empty it of all knowledge, of all arrogance.

Be there to allow yourself to receive the energy.

The more successful you are at allowing, the more energy you'll get, but you won't get more than what your cup can hold

Eventually, if you empty your cup often enough, i.e. you do something with your life! you'll increase the size of your cup.